…When every moment seems an eternity and with every scream of pain it feels like your heart is being ripped from your chest and it happens again, and again, and again, and again, and again for moments, minutes, hours, days, nights, and months (even years) on end…

I know there are those of you who follow this blog for our personal news of Jordan, but this post is for those moms (and dads) out there who live with Food Allergies or Autism Spectrum Disorders everyday. I’m going to be real, so those of you who don’t live with this, if you read it, please don’t be offended, but instead, try to get a glimpse inside life with a child with these issues and see how you might help those who live with it daily.

I know for me there was one friend who stopped and listened – for hours. And although it was only the one time that we got to talk, to have someone stop, listen, truly understand and enter my world as best they could, not brush it off flippantly, or uncomfortably move on to a less loaded subject meant the world to me and it was so good for me to just be able to share the load with someone and to be understood.

Tonight a friend of mine mentioned a friend of hers who is struggling with dealing with everything involved in having a child on the Autism Spectrum and feeling like no one understands. Although, my friend readily admitted she doesn’t understand, I immediately thought, “I’ve been there, and nobody does understand.” I felt so very alone for so long and things were so bad I didn’t feel like I could share with anyone 1. because they couldn’t understand anyway and what I had to say would seem rather dramatic, unbelievable, and quite possibly sound exaggerated (though actually would probably be understated) 2. it felt like I’d would just be compaining, whining and have an “oh poor me” complex and 3. because if I did start to share, I wasn’t sure I’d ever stop, there was so much pain inside. And for me, I didn’t know it was Autism or anything related to it, so I’d say my child was allergic to food and had developmental delays and people just didn’t get the gravity of it. Once I learned that what we were dealing with was related to Autism, when I’d mention that to people, they’d say, “Oh, you think so? No, I don’t think so. He doesn’t seem that bad.” What they didn’t know what how many months I’d been working on things and how good he was finally doing (comparatively), and how I structured his day and our lives for an entire week so that we could have those few hours of decent behavior when they saw him.

The doctors had no answers and offered no help, direction, or hope and didn’t even seem to take me seriously. We live over 1100 miles away from any family or friends (we moved right after he was born). People didn’t get that him having food allergies (allergic to all food) meant that our diet was extremely complicated. I had to become doctor, nutritionist, cook (everything from scratch with ingredients I’d never heard of – 3 meals and 2 snacks/day), and researcher (to learn all this stuff and figure out how to help my child – and by help, I mean keep him from dying, since he was allergic to all food and I knew nursing him just wouldn’t cut it for the rest of his life) in addition to caregiver and normal mom stuff for him and my older son.

People didn’t get that having food allergies meant that he was vomiting; in constant pain which meant constant around the clock screaming, crying or fussing and would often bash his head into hard things like ceramic tile because of it (I’ve described this as sounding like someone dropping a bowling ball onto concrete) but he would just keep going repeatedly bashing his head and I couldn’t stop him no matter how many hundred times I’d pick him up to stop him, he’d go right back – he commonly had a bruised forehead; his bottom was often covered in a rash and he had anal fissures; he would writhe and thrash in pain so much that I couldn’t hold onto him. When he wasn’t writhing, thrashing, or bashing his head, he wanted to be held constantly. And by “wanted” I mean he demanded it – out of fear and pain. If I had to put him down, he would scream and cry endlessly until I picked him up again (even if it was hours) – I arranged my entire kitchen so I could cook and do everything one-handed. Holding him didn’t always mean that the crying would stop. Often, he would “ask” aka scream to be held, I’d pick him up and hold him, he would continue crying and whimpering while squirming so much I’d nearly drop him, so I’d set him down, he’d scream louder, I’d pick him up, he’d curl into a tight ball in my lap still whimpering, but after a few seconds would start squirming and writhing and work his way down onto the floor, only to scream louder flop around miserably when he got there, and I’d pick him up…and repeat and repeat and repeat until I just wanted to scream for the sheer frustration of it, but then I’d think of how he was feeling and just want to cry, and sometimes I did.

He was miserable, never happy or content, and I felt his misery keenly. I knew he was in pain and couldn’t bear to make him go through it alone. I knew I couldn’t take his pain away, but I could hold him, soothe him, just be there for him providing security, love, and comfort to some degree just by my presence. Some nights (and days for that matter), I just sat there holding him and cried with him. Sometimes because I felt so bad for him and the pain he was in. Sometimes because I was so completely exhausted physically and emotionally. Sometimes because it seemed so hopeless and I didn’t know if it would ever end. Sometimes because I couldn’t stand his crying anymore, but knew he was in tremendous pain and I just couldn’t leave him to deal with it by himself or get angry at him for it, it wasn’t his fault, so I’d just cry with him. I did everything in my power to minimize his pain. I researched endlessly to learn about allergies and about their causes so I could work toward his healing, and I paid extremely close attention to my diet, since he was (and still is) nursing, (and later to his diet as well) and strictly kept out anything he was sensitive to through me. In the few hours that he would sleep at night, between wakings, I would either crash and sleep myself, or stay up – sometimes all night – and research.

In the midst of this we couldn’t leave the house – he couldn’t handle it and I had to cook 3 meals and 2 snacks per day (one-handed) anyway (and nurse him every 3-4 hours), hard to get out between those. We couldn’t socialize and make friends in the new area we’d moved to. Socialization most often revolves around food, and we couldn’t eat anything normal people eat. He was usually crying and fussing anyway, which isn’t the most fun to be around and trying to make conversation over that doesn’t work real well. Not to mention that it’s rather embarrassing and it can easily look like you have no control over your child and simply do not discipline at all. For the first 18 months, I didn’t know it was related to Autism at all, so I didn’t even have that as a way of quickly letting people know that he has some “issues”.

So, when someone says, “No one understands”. I know exactly where they are coming from. It’s the cumulative effect that really carries the heaping burden. A year and a half of severe sleep deprivation, no breaks (I couldn’t leave him for more than 2 hours at a time due to nursing) so even slipping out in the evening once my husband was home was difficult to impossible – I only did that once a month or so to get groceries and read all those ingredient lists. And the weight of the responsibility of caring for him plus trying to solve all the medical issues involved were tremendous, not to mention the occasional thoughts of what the long term future would hold for him (and us), if he didn’t get better. Anne from Anne of Green Gables claimed to be in the “depths of despair” and I could relate. Words can’t begin to describe the depth, difficulty, and pain of it and the issues are so multi-faceted that even if it could be put into words, it would take hours just to communicate it to someone, should someone actually want to listen, should I actually be able to get away to talk. It is so extremely isolating and lonely and I felt like I was battling the world in order to save my son.

Now, I’ve rounded the bend and am on the hopeful stretch, knowing the medical issues involved, knowing the process of treatment and that there is an entire array of possibilities, knowing if one doesn’t work there are many other options, seeing improvements in Jordan, sleeping through the night – no longer chronically sleep deprived (at least, no more than any other mom), able to get out of the house and make some friends and now occationally meet up with friends I’ve made. Able to take the boys out during the day to a store or a park. It’s nice. It’s grand. The sheer joy of normality (or near normality) is pure ecstasy and I marvel at it and thank God for it on a daily basis.

REFLECTIONS

A few months ago, as I was just entering this hopeful stretch, I was pondering my time in the depths of despair and wondering about my being so low. I thought, hmm, if I’d just been able to keep an eternal perspective that “this too shall pass” that, “…we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” If I’d just been able to do that, then it would have made it so much better. But to be quite honest with myself, my next thoughts were, but this wasn’t really possible,” renewed day by day? I’d hardly had a renewing moment since his birth. Every day I got more drained than the one before. Light and momentary… yes, I’m sure in view of eternity. But, it doesn’t seem it. It seems impossible to keep an eternal perspective when living in this. This verse seems like a lie. When every moment seems an eternity and with every painful scream it feels like your heart is being ripped from your chest and it happens again, and again, and again, and again, and again for moments, minutes, hours, days, nights, months, and years on end. Each moment an eternity in itself. No, no one understands who hasn’t been there. And when you are there, with all the screaming, thrashing, tantrums, frustrations, desperation, every moment of every day (and often every night), you don’t have time to stop, refocus, and gain eternal perspective. It all presses in too hard, too fast, constantly without pause.

So, forget eternal perspective as far as time, I had to take it hour by hour, often minute by minute – and each one seemed an eternity in itself. I had to focus on a God who is good and who loves me – and my child. I had to remember that even as I was cradling my baby in my arms, He had me in His arms, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” – Isaiah 40:11 and Isaiah 41:13 “For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” Not that I had time to actually read these verses, but I knew them and could focus on the idea of them. And when it all got to be too much and physically my body broke down and quit on me, I prayed for “Jesus with skin on.” Praying and trusting Him is great and necessary, don’t get me wrong, but when your body gives up and you simply cannot press on any further, you need help in the form of people and you need rest – and God provided both.

Jordan’s issues became apparent when he was 3 weeks old and started vomiting, spitting up (reflux), screaming for 5 hours a day/ night, had rashes, diarrhea, green and mucousy bowel movements and was just plain miserable. We quickly discovered he had multiple food allergies and were able to determine what they were and eliminate them from my diet (he was nursing). The screaming stopped, the vomiting stopped, the reflux ceased.

At one year old when he needed to start eating solid foods on his own – he had exclusively nursed up to this point – it became obvious he was allergic to all food (except a plain, baked sweet potato). He reached normal developmental milestones like crawling and walking through about 13 or 14 months of age. But, by 18 months it was obvious he had a speech and developmental – cognitive, emotional and behavioral – delay (but allergies can do that). During this time I researched everything I could find on the causes of food allergies. We greened our house and environment as much as possible, removing toxins and changing our diet to organic whole foods as much as we could.

It was when he was around 18 months that I learned the causes of allergies, asthma, autism, and ADD/ADHD are the same! So I started reading everything I could on the causes of autism, figuring, since the causes are the same and there is tons of information on autism, I’d read about the causes of autism and be able to help my son with his food allergies, since there isn’t much information specifically on the causes of allergies. The more I read on autism the freakier it got for me. Jordan’s physical symptoms matched that of many autistic kids: multiple food allergies, diarrhea and constipation, tantrums, fear, super sensitive hearing, yeast issues, leaky gut…could Jordan have autism?

Socially he’s always connected with me, always looked in my eyes, desired to communicate. The one or two autistic kids I’d seen in my life before this were very severe (although I didn’t know that) and that’s what I thought autism was. I knew something was wrong with Jordan, but was it autism? I struggled with how to tell people what was going on with him, especially in a brief sentence. So I started to say he had autistic-like problems. He shared the same physical problems and symptoms as a huge number of autistic kids, but did that make it autism? Well, no, it doesn’t. Autism is classified as a neurological disorder, not a physical disorder, so it’s diagnosed by cognitive, social, and behavioral symptoms, not by physical symptoms or issues. And that is where the two camps of autism are at war right now. One side believes autism is a neurological disorder, nothing can be done except some therapies to try to socialize and teach them. The other side believes autism is a physically-based disease that can be improved, reversed and even cured by addressing those underlying physical problems through biomedical treatments.

You can guess which camp I’m in 🙂 Because of Jordan’s extreme sensitivity to foods and other substances, I quickly learned that toxins affect him greatly. It’s easy to see and doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. Even just the other day I put sunscreen on him – I knew better. I shouldn’t have. But, I was afraid he would get sunburnt being in water out in full sun for awhile. The only sunscreen available was full of chemicals. (I failed to prepare and have a less toxic one available). That night he was crying and wouldn’t fall asleep like he normally does and fussed for hours past his bedtime. With him, it is easy to see when his toxic burden is getting to great. His eyes swell, he gets lines under them, and he gets fussy and miserable. Forget swimming in a chlorinated pool. He can only handle so many toxins at once and with the amount we are surrounded with in our everyday lives, it’s no wonder the rate of autism is increasing at epidemic rates. Autism is an environmental illness due to the toxic burden put on our bodies and our kids are paying a heavy price.

So, does Jordan have autism? I’ve never had him formally diagnosed, I don’t see the point. But from the diagnostic tools I’ve been able to use online, he comes out as having pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD – NOS). It is a form of autism and is certainly on the autism spectrum of disorders. PDD-NOS encompasses a wide range and sometimes can be used as a “soft” diagnosis by practitioners who don’t have the heart to tell parents their child has autism. However, in Jordan’s case I would agree that it’s PDD-NOS. He doesn’t fit classic autism or Asperger’s. Some of his symptoms are severe, where other areas he seems unaffected. Some of the symptoms where he seems unaffected or nearly so are the defining characteristics of these other diagnoses. I still have a difficult time saying he has autism, or even PDD. I prefer to say he has some developmental delays, sensory issues, or food allergies depending on the situation. Even better, I say he has yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, malabsorption of nutrients, a malfunctioning and weak immune system, and heavy metal toxicity because that’s what the real issues are.

Here are a few statistics from Generation Rescue:

Autism now impacts 1 in 150 children, up from 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s. That is an increase of 6,000%.

1 in 150 children have autism. 1 in 12 children have ADHD. 1 in 6 children have a learning disorder.

Autism is an environmental illness caused by an overload of toxic metals, bacteria, viruses, and chronic inflammation.

Many children with autism share the same physical symptoms including gastrointestinal distress, food allergies, immune issues, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and sleep disturbances.

In the 1980s, the recommended vaccine schedule was 10 shots by age 6. Today, it is 36 shots.

The U.S. gives more vaccines at an earlier age than any country in the world.

Children with autism test for higher amounts of toxic metals in their system than their neurotypical peers.

Typically, doctors do not tell parents about biomedical treatment. They find out about it from other parents and the web.

There are more than 400 doctors in the US dedicated to treating children with autism biomedically.

Biomedical treatment consists of diet changes and vitamin, mineral and other supplementation.

Vaccines are not mandatory for school. It is a parent’s choice to decide what and when to vaccinate.

If a child is on the autism spectrum of disorders, they have food allergies. Period. The two go together. It doesn’t necessarily go the other way, obviously – the presence of allergies certainly doesn’t mean there is a developmental delay present. For general developmental delays, and even in some cases of Autism, the question is, “Do the allergies cause the developmental problem, or are the allergies just a co-existing problem?” In some cases, food allergies, or sensitivities, can cause the developmental delay. The body’s reaction to foods can so affect the child’s development, ability of the brain to function, and nervous system that it can actually cause the developmental delay.

However, in other cases, it may be a co-existing factor manifesting from the improperly operating (and overloaded) immune system and other underlying physical factors (toxic overload, yeast overgrowth, leaky gut, heavy metals, poorly functioning detoxification pathways) that are also causing the developmental delay and/or autism. Allergies stem from the same causes that autism, ADD/ADHD, and asthma stem from, so either way, the underlying factors are critical whether you want to heal from autism or only from allergies.

Although having food allergies or sensitivities is common in infants and their still very immature immune system easily gets overwhelmed, it is possible that as their immune system develops as they get older, they will “outgrow” the food allergy. However, taking every measure to support their immune system and not further overwhelm it with additional toxins is a very wise idea. A few common signs of food allergies/sensitivities, especially in babies, are reflux, projectile vomiting, crying for hours (colicy), raspy breathing, recurring ear infections, diarrhea and/or constipation, changes in poop color particularly to green, and eczema and rashes.

Something to be aware of – if you are finding your child has food allergies or sensitivities to many different things, be on the look out for developmental delays. It’s a sign that the child has many toxins in their system, aren’t clearing them out at an adequate rate, and their immune system is overloaded.

So it’s kind of a, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” question. Do allergies cause developmental delay or is it part of the autism or delay itself? Either way, the food allergies cause great irritation to the body and interfere with brain growth and function and will hinder any therapies or treatment toward the healing of autism or developmental delay if they are not discovered and dealt with.

My Dad called a couple mornings ago to say he say a billboard saying that 1 new case of autism is diagnosed every 20 minutes. I googled to find the statistic and came across this great article, recently published by Greenwich Time in Greenwich, CT, summarizing many of the conflicts surrounding autism and the blocks to awareness and treatment. Thanks, Dad!

It’s day 30 of Autism Awareness Month, which means 2,160 new cases of autism were added this month — one every 20 minutes. At a cost of $3 million per child, the bill for this epidemic — $90 billion per year — will hit every pocketbook and every school budget. Hard.

And yet, the Centers for Disease Control deny an autism epidemic exists. Polio was considered epidemic when the numbers reached 1 in 3,000, but not so for autism, which now affects 1 in 150 — a 100-fold increase in 30 years. The Department of Education puts the autism rate even higher: 1 in 67. Somali Immigrants in Minnesota who didn’t even have a word for “autism” in their country are seeing an astonishing 1 in 28 autism rate in their children. Yet the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics claim “better diagnosis” explains the increase in autism cases. If so, then in 1992, 93 percent of kids with autism were missed. That’s how many more children are receiving services for autism in schools today.

Immunization link

The increase in autism cases coincides with the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule, which jumped from 10 vaccines in the 1970s to 36 vaccines today. A new study reveals our children are the most vaccinated on the planet, receiving double the number of vaccines of 30 other First World countries. Thousands of parents have described their children regressing after vaccines.

Of even greater concern, a peak in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome coincides with immunizations;

the U.S. has one of the highest infant mortality rates of all industrialized nations. The five countries (of those 30) with the lowest infant mortality rates give less than one-third the number of vaccines the U.S. mandates, and their autism rates are as little as one-tenth of ours.The AAP staunchly maintains no proof of a link exists between vaccines and autism, and calls its occurrence after vaccination “coincidental.” But many peer-reviewed studies demonstrate the link, none of which are published in the journal Pediatrics, which earns 80 percent of its advertising revenues from vaccine makers.

Studies have also associated vaccines with diabetes, allergies, chronic ear infections, learning disabilities, ADD and other neurological and immunological disorders. Former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Bernadine Healy noted a study that found delaying the DTP vaccine by just a few months decreased by 50 percent the risk that a child develops asthma. Healy added that parents can legitimately question giving a one-day-old baby the Hepatitis B vaccine, calling it “a heavy duty vaccine” even at two or four months.

Kept quiet

Our national media (including Public Radio) receive billions of dollars in pharmaceutical sponsorship and advertising, and are generally uncritical of the vaccine program. When three cases out of 5,000 claiming a vaccine/autism link were defeated in “vaccine court,” headlines around the country proclaimed, “Vaccines proven to not cause autism.” But when a large award was recently made to the Banks family, who won their case and proved vaccines caused their son’s autism, the media ignored the story.

The CDC tells us one in six children has a neurological disability, but provides no explanation as to why. Shots for minor childhood diseases such as chicken pox and rotovirus (diarrhea) may be the breaking point for a generation of children with disabilities. Babies receive immunizations for as many as nine diseases in a day, but the CDC has never conducted safety studies for the administration of multiple vaccines; they’re only studied one at a time.

Other factors

Why is the incidence of neurological disorders so much higher for boys than for girls? It’s hypothesized that males are more susceptible to neurotoxicity of vaccine ingredients due to hormonal differences; estrogen is protective against toxins while testosterone increases their effects. Several studies have proven this hypothesis, but the CDC and AAP do not acknowledge them nor do they offer an explanation for the far greater prevalence of these disorders among boys than girls. For the medical industry, there appears to be no turning back from a position of total defense of vaccines. Professional reputations and billions of dollars in vaccine revenue are at stake.

Certain conditions may predispose children to autism and other neurological disorders. In addition to gender, factors such as an underlying mitochondrial disorder, low glutathione levels (both testable), illness at the time of shots, and a family history of immunological or psychological disorders have been associated with an increased incidence of autism. (Research also shows that acetaminophen — often recommended after shots — suppresses glutathione levels, impeding detoxification of vaccine ingredients such as mercury and aluminum.) Screening for possible risk factors is not part of the current one-size-fits-all vaccine protocol.

Acceptable mercury?

Mercury in the vaccine preservative thimerosal is another point of controversy. While thimerosal was being phased out of childhood vaccines, the CDC began adding it back in by recommending the flu shot for pregnant women and children, every year up to age 18. Most flu shots contain 25 mcgs of ethylmercury — a neurotoxin that has an affinity for the fetus and the brain. When five pediatric practices were contacted in Greenwich, it was learned that three administered the flu shot with the full load of thimerosal. One practice stated that a “thimerosal-free” shot (which actually contains trace levels of mercury) had been available, but only for children whose parents requested it.

Our own Greenwich Health Department was cautious enough to stock only the thimerosal-free flu shots for adults. Why are the developing brains of Greenwich’s youngest citizens being exposed to 25 mcgs of ethylmercury while adults who obtain flu shots from the town are protected from mercury — the most toxic non-radioactive element on earth? And why are the .5 mcg of mercury in “thimerosal-free” vaccines considered acceptable? (Would pediatricians inject .5 mcg of lead into a patient?)

Not even our dogs and cats receive thimerosal in vaccines; for them, it was removed in 1992. When too many vaccines overwhelm our pets’ immune systems, it’s called vaccinosis. There is no such diagnosis in humans.

In 1991, additional thimerosal-containing vaccines were licensed for children in spite of a memo sent by vaccine inventor Dr. Maurice Hilleman to Merck executives, informing them that infants might be exposed to unsafe levels of mercury. The memo, however, was never acted upon.

Dr. Frank Engly, a researcher who served on the CDC, FDA and EPA during the ’70s and ’80s, said, “The CDC cannot afford to admit thimerosal is toxic because they have been promoting it for several years “¦ If they would have followed through with our 1982 report, vaccines would have been freed of thimerosal and all this autism as they tell me would not have occurred. But as it is, it all occurred.”

Money talks

A recent report on CBS’ “60 Minutes” revealed that, “Congressmen are outnumbered 2 to 1 by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry that spends roughly $100 million a year in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses to protect its profits “¦ In fact, there have been over 1,500 bills placed in front of the House of Representatives over the last eight years dealing with pharmaceutical issues — and the drug companies, almost without exception, have gotten what they wanted.” Pharmaceutical executives are also allowed to sit on CDC advisory boards where vaccine recommendations are determined.

The government assures us vaccines are safe while paying nearly $2 billion to parents of children who have died or been harmed by them. Vaccine cases were removed from civil courts in 1988 due to crippling litigation against vaccine makers. Just as the tobacco companies’ 23 studies once “proved” no link between smoking and lung cancer, so the vaccine makers now claim 14 studies “prove” vaccines are safe. Decades passed before the tobacco/cancer link was finally accepted, and decades have already passed since autism was first linked to vaccines.

Other environmental triggers may play a role in the autism epidemic, including proximity to coal-burning plants which emit mercury, and maternal exposure to mercury from fish consumption and dental amalgams. In June, the FDA did an about-face on amalgams (which are 50 percent mercury), stating that they “may have neurotoxic effects on the nervous systems of developing children and fetus.” (It is not advised that amalgams be removed during pregnancy or while nursing.)

Today marks the last day of Autism Awareness Month, but tomorrow begins a new month in the autism epidemic.

“It’s not that our opponents are ignorant, it’s just that so much of what they know, just isn’t so.” –President Ronald Reagan

Many days it can be frustrating to know what I know about health, autism, sensory issues, allergies, their causes, and live in this society. There is so much misinformation about treatments for autism and developmental delays, etc. The main push is: go do some therapies like ABA, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, socialization, etc. And the sooner you get those therapies for you child, the greater chance there is for a better outcome. Let me be clear about this – I am NOT against these therapies. They CAN be helpful. However, they are only minimally helpful if that is the ONLY treatment these children get. If these children get other treatments FIRST, or even simultaneously, these forms of therapy will be exponentially more helpful. But, often times these therapies are the only thing moms hear about to help their child.

First we must get rid of the things in the child life that are harming the functioning of the brain and body. Things like food allergens (casein, gluten, and others specific to the child), foods that in general harm the body and alter how it functions (sugar, caffeine), and chemical inputs (perfumes, cleaners, detergents, soaps, lotions, etc that are all toxic). These are all things that can be done at home relatively inexpensively. And these are very critical first steps, and can be done even before (or without ever) starting treatments with a doctor.

Second, we need to address what is physically wrong with the child. For this, additional professional help is needed. Is the child’s head misshapen or are some of the cranial bones overlapping or out of place? (If so, the brain is likely not getting nutrients to all the right places in adequate amounts). Is there an overgrowth of yeast? Does the child have heavy metal toxicity? Does the child have chronic diarrhea or constipation? What does the child’s vitamin/mineral profile look like? And other similar things.

These issues are critical to treatment, and all the therapies (physical, occupational, ABA, etc) in the world will not correct them. Not only will it not correct them, until these issues are addressed, the brain’s functioning is compromised and the therapies will only be minimally effective. They may show some good results, but if these things were addressed the results would be so much more!

So the media is celebrating new advances and cutting-edge therapies for autism. For example, just last week the Today Show did a special on how they are now using robots to teach autistic kids socialization skills. It’s so cutting-edge and exciting. Before there was no hope for treating autistic kids, but now there are robots!!! And there has been 60 million dollars donated to this research about using the robots. But they are missing the boat. If the things compromising the functioning of the brain and the physical problems are dealt with FIRST, then the therapies (including robots) utilized – to teach the kids what they missed learning when their brains couldn’t function properly – that would be a breakthrough!

It isn’t that these scientists, doctors, moms are ignorant, not at all, in fact they are very knowledgeable, they just have wrong information or are missing information. Ronald Regan said it perfectly, “so much of what they know just isn’t so.”